Respiration has an important role in athletic performance. To achieve higher performance the body needs more oxygen. Thus, it is important to breathe correctly when exercising. Additionally, when performing certain sequences of movements such as lifting weights, swinging a golf club, or hitting a ball with a racket, breathing in certain patterns that are synchronized with the movements can help improve factors such as posture, coordination and the effect of the movements on the muscles.
The process of respiration is under both conscious and unconscious control. Thus, if proper coaching and guidance is provided, breathing may be corrected while performing athletic activities. However, keeping track of breathing while conducting athletic activities is difficult. Additionally, it may not be possible for a person exercising to translate the information about breathing into actionable instructions that may be used to improve athletic performance. Thus, there is a need for a way to track a user's breathing while performing athletic activities, and to use this information to help the user improve his/her performance.